Closure for preserving vessels and the like



K. TEICHMANN CLO-SURE FER PRESERVING VESSELS AND THE LIKE Filed 061" jnuentor: hand w Patented Jan. 11, 1927.

siren stares 1,614,022 PATENT QFFlCE.

KARL TEIGHMANN, OF FRIEDENSH'UTTE, GERIVIAI-TY.

CLOSURE FOR YRESERVING VESSELS AND THE LIKE.

Application filed. October 5, 1925, Serial No. 60,619, and in Germany October 8, 1924.

My invention relates to a closure for use in connection with preserving vessels and the like. It is illustrated diagrammatically and by way of example in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is an axial section through a preserving vessel provided with a closure designed according to this invention, Figure 2 is a similar view showing a modification, and Figures 3 and 4 show two details. I

On the drawing, a, Fig. 1, denotes the preserving vessel which is to be filled completely with the solid or liquid food to be preserved. 6 denotes a perforated disk, preferably of glass, which is located upon the edge of the vessel a and the object'of which is to prevent the contents of the vessel from rising above the level of said edge. 0 denotes a flangelike collar encompassing the neck of the vessel somewhat below its edge, and d is a packing ring carried by said flange or collar. e is the cover which is hollow and adapted to receive a liquid; its lower rim is thickened and so shaped as to be able to receive and hold a few clamps 8' made of elastic wire or of strips of elastic sheet-metal and pressing the cover 6 upon the packing ring (Z. 7 is the bottom of the hollow cover, 9 an aperture in this bottom, and h an upwardly extending tube porjecting forth from said bottom and terminating shortly below the top of the said cover. 11 is an aperture in this top, and 7.0 a branch having an outer thread, with the aid of which the branch in, or the entire preserving vessel respectively, can be connected with an air-pump or the like. Prior to establishing this connection, a valve-body m of soft rubber is placed into the branch upon the orifice 2', but still prior thereto a sterile liquid is poured through the aperture 2' into the hollow cover 6 from which it flows further through the aperture 9 into the space between the disk I) and the bottom 7. The air displaced by this liquid is driven out through the pipe it into the upper part of the hollow cover. When the level of the liquid has reached about the height shown in Fig. 1, the valve-body m is inserted and the branch is is connected with the air-pump or the like, whereafter the air present in the top chamber of the cover is sucked away and a vacuum is produced in said chamber.

In order to render possible a continual observation .of the vacuum in the preserving vessel a member 0 is provided which has a held in its operative position by the pressure of the atmospheric air but will sink down upon the top of the cover 6, indicating in t iis position the wrong'state of the preserving vessel. The member 0/71, is used also when the preserving vessel is to be opened intentionally in that the poise n is then depressed manually whereby the valve-body will be lifted off its seat so that atmospheric air can enter into the vessel whereafter the cover can be taken off and access is afforded to the contents of the vessel (1.

In the modification shown in Fig. 2 the bottom F of the hollow cover 6 forms a separate part, and from it extends upwards, besides the tube h a vacuum gauge 17 formed by a small cylindrical vessel which is closed at its upper end and open at its lower end and provided with a graduation at which the height of the vacuum can be read. The liquid poured into the hollow cover 6 cannot enter into the vacuum gauge because of the air therein contained, but this air is sucked off when the air-pump sucks away the air contained in the upper chamber of the cover. Now, supposing, that atmospheric air finds access into the space above the liquid in the cover, a certain amount of the sterile liquid will enter into the vacuum gauge whereby the condition existing at the time being can be seen.

The valve-body m may have a conical 0r similarly shaped bottom surface instead of the flat one, the seat for it in the branch 70 being then, of course, shaped correspondingly.

The two cap-shaped members 9 and 1* shown in Figs. 3 and 4 are used if the food to be preserved has been introduced in the vessel a in hot state. When this has been done and the air has been sucked off, as described, not the member 0/11 is put immediately upon the valve-body m, but first the cap 9 is put thereon and then the cap 1' is screwed upon the branch is whereby the valve-body is pressed slightly upon its seat. When the preserving vessel and the food have cooled down completely, the caps r and q are removed from the branch k and the valve-body m, and the member 0/11. is

put upon that body, as described with respect to Fig. 1.

I claim:

1. A closure for preserving vessels, comprising, in combination with the vessel to be closed, a hollow cover for it, a tube extending upwardly from the bottom of this cover near the top thereof, an aperture in said bottom, and a valve upon said cover top, substantially as set forth.

2. A closure for preserving vessels, comprising, in combination with the vessel to be closed, a hollow cover for it, a tube extending upwardly from the bottom of this cover near the top thereof, an aperture in said bottom, a valve upon the top thereof, and automatic means adapted to indicate a fall of the vacuum existing in the top chamber of the cover, substantially as set forth.

3. A closure for preserving vessels, comprising, in combination with the vessel to be closed, a hollow cover for it adapted to receive a sterile liquid, a tube extending upwardly from the bottom of the cover and terminating above the level of said liquid, an aperture in said bottom through which the cover and the vessel communicate with each other, and an automatically opening valve upon the top of the said cover, substantially as set forth.

i. A closure for preserving vessels, comprising, in combination with the vessel to be closed, a hollowcover for it adapted to receive a sterile liquid, a tube and a vacuum gauge extending upwardly from the bottom of the cover and terminating. near the top thereoi, an aperture in said bottom through which the cover and the vessel communi rate with each other, and an automatically opening valve upon the top of the said cover, substantially as set forth.

KARL TEICHMANN. 

